Isabella’s Insights is a new series that I want to add to the blog. Every new and exciting country I travel to, I will write a new Isabella’s Insights – where I share my experiences, adventures and travel tips with you. This edition of Isabella’s Insights is, as you might have guessed, from Japan! Lets get started shall we..

I’m back from Japan, and wow, where do I start? I have so much to tell you about my once in a lifetime trip with Small Luxury Hotels. I feel very grateful that they decided to invite me along. They have truly giving me an unforgettable travel experience for life, that I will never ever forget or take for granted. I am filled with you and happiness knowing that my job and passion takes me all round the world and that I have the pleasure of being able to share my exciting experiences and tips with you, my sweet readers.

Japan is such a unique, beautiful, different and very exciting country. It was my first trip to Japan, so I had no idea what to expect! Al through a few friends have told me incredibly good things about Japan, and their great enthusiasm for Tokyo. I therefore knew that I had an unforgettable and unique journey ahead.

I have been dreaming of travel to Japan for several years, but since Japan is a rather expensive country both to travel to but also expensive to stay in when visiting, it has for that reason not been at the top of my travel bucket list. I have been fortunate that my work have kept me traveling all round Europe, which I love so very much! However I always knew that one day I would make my dream come true by traveling to Japan, but I did not know that I would be lucky enough to for my favourite Small Luxury Hotels to make my dream come true this quickly.

Japan and India are undoubtedly the most unique and exciting countries I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. It is impossible to compare them to any other places I’ve been to before. Both unique in their own way! Japan is a fascinating country filled with countless traditions and inspirational history and a deeper belief that I look forward to share with you in this post.

There is a lot to learn about the Japanese culture, I find it incredibly interesting and fascinating. It is impossible to know everything, but I would personally wish that I have had a bit more time before to research about it before my journey. I am therefore writing this Isabellas Insights to you, to share the tips and traditions I learned during my trip to Japan.

Keeping your shoes on in certain places is highly offensive

Lots of places in Japan and many other places in Asia leaving your shoes on when entering someone’s house is a major sign of disrespect. Therefore I highly recommend you to have a look around before entering, because it’s easy to tell if they wish you to remove your shoes.

It can be both restaurants, hotels, bathrooms, etc. Therefore, I would advise you to look carefully before you enter, as you can often sense from where you are, whether they want you to take off your shoes or not. 2 out of 3 of the hotels we stayed at in Japan we had to take off our shoes either at the reception or in the rooms.

When we traveled to Izu south of Japan it would have be rude and disrespectful of me if I had walked inside with my shoes on. Here they have a clearly marked where to take off their shoes, and then they provide you with slippers you can jump into and wear inside.

You do not need to leave a tip

One of the things I was quite surprised about was that you didn’t leave a tip. In Denmark where I am from, you always safe some money for the waiters if you feel like you’ve have great service. To be honest, Danes have never been super good at giving tips when they go out to eat in Denmark, but that is a completely different conversation for a different post..When I travel, I always make sure to have extra cash on me, so I can leave some for the good service/experience I’ve had. This is apparently not necessary in Japan, and in fact many restaurants etc will understand it as a lack of respect, as they think it may have something to do with not providing a good enough service. Although some places the service charge is included, so you don’t need to feel bad about leaving without tipping.

Tokyo has lots of hidden spots

Japan and Tokyo especially is stacked with buildings. Been living in London for 7 years and got used to all the many people coming to Tokyo was a bit overwhelming. In Tokyo there lives round 13 million people and London has around 8 million.There is not many super tall skyscrapers but I was surprised to discover that under most malls and underground station it’s like a whole new universe. Most restaurants and food shops are often located under ground (under the malls, stations.) or at the top of the buildings.

Japanese are quite and respect each others private space

You will not believe it till you have experienced it yourself but Japanese people are unbelievably quite. When we took the metro we were in shock! No one was talking, everyone was so peaceful. For 8 stops I was amazed – almost no one said one single thing. You could easily hear if someone cuffed or took a deep breath. Their metro is also super peaceful compared to the once I am used to in London. Everyone in Japan is aware of the fact that they are sharing space with others, so keeping conversations to a minimum and voice levels at a low volume in public is always appreciated. They are so respectful of each others private space, which is not always the case in London.

The Japanese people we have been talking to says one of the reason why they are so quite is because when they are alone, travel etc. they zoom out to focus on themselves. It’s time they use to find balance in a hectic and busy life.

Their funny smoking rules

Japan is at the forefront of incredibly much when it comes to being environmentally friendly and when it comes to their technology but on the smoking front they are still some years behind. Japanese people smoke and drink on average if you compare with other countries, but they are incredibly good at following the calculators when it comes to not disturbing others. They see it as rude to drink in the public, where we Danes are very different. Japanese are incredibly polite, so make the most of everything not to genre others.There are still many restaurants and bars in Japan where you see ashtrays on the tables, where you can freely smoke even though the table next to you is eating and eating.
The comical thing about it all is that outside they have divided areas for smokers, so that they can take others into consideration – but inside a bar and restaurant, without having a guilty conscience can you turn on a cigarette? haha
However, it is something Japan is working on cutting down, so some restaurants and bars are completely smoke free or have specific areas for smokers.

A few polite “unwritten” rules

Bow: You find that traditionally people gently bow on greeting. It’s polite to return the gesture but being overzealous can cause insult so mirror the approximate angle to keep you in the safe zone.

Phone on silent: Switch your mobile phone’s sound off and avoid taking phone calls when in restaurants, shops and on public transport. If you must pick up then do quite to pay respect to the once round you.

Wet towls: Most restaurants, hotels and tea rooms offer you hot wet towels. It’s a gesture from them to you to wipe your hands before eating to wash away dirt and bad spirits.

Don’t turn your back: It is un polite to directly turn your back to others. One of the reasons why in traditional restaurants they would have you walk first, and they would leave the room walking out backwards with their front to you so they avoid turning you the back.

Slurping is polite: Are you enjoying your bowl of noodles? Then make some noise! Slurping which in Europe is super rude to do in a public place and restaurant is seen rude, but if you do that in Japan it means you are loving it. It’s seen as a way to tell the chef or tea maker that you love and appreciate the hard work they’ve put into it.

Eating: When you eat from small bowls, it is correct manner to pick up the bowl with your hand and lead it close to your mouth when eating from it. After finishing your meal, Japanese see it as good manner to return all your dishes to how they were at the start of the meal. This includes replacing the lids on dishes and putting your chopsticks back on the chopstick rest – like in europe we put the knife and fork together and place them on our plates to show that we have finished eating.

The traditional tea rooms in Japan

If you are traveling to Japan you have to visit one of their traditional tea rooms. We visited a tea room in Izu and one in Tokyo and I think it was one of the biggest experiences from my trip. In Izu we got the whole traditional experience and history. We were even dressed in their traditional uniform. Each tea room is covered with soft Tatami mats and varies in size.When you visit a traditional tea room you will first be served a sweet piece of “cake” which is typically made on brown beans. It is incredibly sweet, so the strong match tea that is quietly made by the professional tea maker is very strong and bitter, so it helps balance i out. Of pure respect, no one talk through out the whole tea ceremony. Here you sit in silence and “meditate” and admire the tea maker make the best possible tea for her guests. Everyone entering a tea room is on the same level, and here you respect the silence.I have in mind this week to write a slightly longer blogpost about my amazing experiences and the many “rules” and traditions that lie in their lovely traditional tea rooms.

Uneven number of steps

In Japan I was told that they like uneven numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 etc. It is a symbol that you are constantly moving ahead, constantly progressing. Since it is “incomplete”, you have more things to achieve.
On our journey we visited one of the oldest museums in Tokyo that exhibit some of the most beautiful Hokusai art, which in the old days was painted on both walls and ceilings. Here they had exactly 99 steps in their museum, and the woman who showed us around explained to us that in Japan it has a deeper meaning. Because it is uneven it means you are constantly moving forward. One still had something to work towards, since it’s “incomplete”. If they had an even number steps, they had to destroy one to symbolize they are constantly evolving.

Why do they wear white masks

They use the white masks to avoid getting germs from others but also in respect to avoid giving germs to others. Some woman wear them if they go out if they haven’t applied their makeup, and especially when it’s hay fever season to stop the pollen from affecting you.

It’s good to always have cash

Like me you might be used to just carry round your credit or debit cards as your main payment method. Perhaps you keep a little pocket change in case of emergency. In Japan, you’ll find that they do it the other way round. Japan’s economy is very much cash-centered and many establishments don’t accept credit cards at all. Large companies in big cities are slowly adapting to credit systems, but a good tip is to always carry some cash since most taxis wont accept cards as well. I always before I bought something looked if they had a card machine or asked if I could pay with card.

Traveling in Japan

When we traveled around Japan we all bought a Rail Card. It can save you lots of money, especially if you plan to travel a lot. You can buy a special unlimited pass that allows you to travel free within specific areas. A good tip would be to look into it before you leave as it’s worth buying before you go.

In spite of the language, I actually found it surprisingly easy to travel around Japan, especially thanks to my favorite travel app CityMapper which tells me exactly how I the easiest way get from A-B and, in my opinion CityMapper is much better than Google Maps.

Japan Is Super Safe

Never before have I ever felt so safe in a new country. Not even once did I feel uncomfortable or felt that I should hide my bag or camera away. Japan is the country in the world with the lowest crime, and it’s actually unbelievable just how safe you feel in this big city. Everyone are respectful of your private space. Even when we 4 girls went out late at night, we didn’t feel “scared” or unsafe at any point.

Titles

The Japanese normally address each other by last name. In addition, people rarely address each other just by name, but usually attach an appropriate title to the name. Therefor I was on my trip called Isabella San. There is a large number of such titles depending on the gender and social position of the person you are addressing. These are the most common titels:

san: This is the most neutral and famous title, and can be used in most situations and for both men and woman, so you attach San behind your or their first name.

sama: This is a more polite form of san, commonly used towards customers or in formal writing, but can be too polite in a casual context.

kun:This is an informal title used for boys and men that are younger than yourself.

chan: This is an informal title used for young children and close friends or family members.